One Pot Cajun Beef Pasta is a big, bubbly pasta made with beef and a surprising amount of hidden vegetables in a Cajun flavoured tomato pasta sauce, topped with oozy cheese. Serves 7 to 8 and makes for excellent leftovers!
A complete one-pot meal with lots of hidden vegetables
Here today with a sparkling new recipe I created with mid-week cooking in mind: a big, bubbling Cajun pasta made with beef and a surprising amount of hidden vegetables, so you can serve this as a complete meal. It’s really economical (500g/1lb beef -> 7 to 8 servings), with bold beefy Cajun flavours and smothered with oozy cheese.
The good amount of Cajun spices used in this recipe lets us pack in vegetables without disappointingly diluting the flavour of the dish. You know exactly where I’m coming from, I know you do!!
In this recipe, we’ve got a carrot, zucchini, and capsicum (bell pepper) with 500g/1 lb of beef, plus there’s also 800g/28 oz canned tomato and an onion (these count as vegetables too!) All these vegetables not only boosts nutrition but also stretches the dish to serve 7-8 people instead of the usual 4-5.
So much veg. But try to tell me you don’t want to eat this!! ⬇️
Cajun pasta – not authentic, and that’s ok!
In case you are wondering, no, Cajun pasta isn’t authentically Cajun. In fact, Cajuns typically use rice. However, combining Cajun spices with pasta is popular in America and makes for a super tasty dish. So I’m totally on board with it!
Ingredients in this One Pot Cajun Beef Pasta
I’ve chosen to use grated carrot and zucchini which blends in seamlessly into the pasta sauce, plus a chopped capsicum (bell pepper) which is on theme for the Cajun flavours in this dish.
The pasta add-ins
Beef – I’ve designed this recipe around beef and I did find I had the tweak the volume of the Cajun spice blend to get the right balance of flavour. So while you could substitute with chicken, turkey or pork, you might find the seasoning a little on the light side so I’d increase the Cajun seasoning a bit. And probably add a bit more fat too, else the mince might seem a little dried out.
Lamb doesn’t get a mention here because I feel like the combination with Cajun spices in a pasta sounds a bit odd? I could be wrong.
Vegetables – Zucchini and carrot, grated with a box grater so it disappears into the pasta sauce. Plus a red capsicum (bell pepper), chopped rather than grating because it would turn into watery mush.
Onion – This absolutely counts towards your vegetable quota! Plus it forms an important part of the flavour base for this pasta.
Garlic – Where there is onion, there is almost always garlic. Actually, there is almost always garlic even when onion is not present!
Kidney beans – This bulks out the recipe with more nutritional value than using more pasta, as well as adding a different texture to the dish. It’s also on theme as kidney beans are used in Cajun dishes – like red beans and rice. 🙂
cajun pasta sauce
The key to success with this One Pot Cajun Beef Pasta for perfectly cooked pasta and enough sauce so it’s bubbly and saucy rather than dry and stodgy is to use enough liquid (stock, canned tomato and water). You will be surprised how much the pasta absorbs!
Crushed canned tomato – For the pasta sauce. We use 800g/28 oz which makes this pasta nice and saucy!
Chicken stock/broth and water – The liquid for cooking the pasta. We need a fair amount (1 litre / 1 quart) because pasta absorbs a surprising amount of liquid! I use a combination because using just water makes the sauce a little bland, but using all chicken stock rather than equal parts water and stock didn’t improve the flavour. So why incur the extra cost of using all chicken stock when water is free? 🙂
Tomato paste – Just 2 tablespoons gives the sauce a tomato flavour boost, and thickens it slightly. Without, the sauce is just a little on the light side of tomato-flavour, but I’d still make this if I was out.
Homemade Cajun Spice blend – I like to use a homemade Cajun spice blend because the quality of Cajun spice blends varies so much from brand to brand. Though if you have a good one, like Slap Ya Mama, feel free to substitute with that.
Here are the spices you need for the homemade Cajun spice blend:
Dried thyme – substitute with fresh leaves, chopped
Paprika – sweet/regular, not smoked or spicy
Garlic powder – has an earthier flavour than fresh garlic. Substitute with more onion powder, or 2 extra garlic cloves.
Onion powder – has an earthier flavour than fresh onion, Substitute with more garlic powder.
Cayenne pepper – optional, for subtle warmth. Feel free to leave it out, or substitute with chilli powder (ie pure chilli, not the US non-spicy chili blend) or a dash of your favourite hot sauce.
Salt and pepper
Cheese – For melting on the surface. I like to use Colby because it melts easily (useful for recipes where we use residual heat to melt the cheese) and doesn’t go greasy. But any melting cheese will be fine here. Personally I don’t use mozzarella because it doesn’t have quite enough flavour. Or, if I did, I’d add a good sprinkle of parmesan on top.
How to make this One Pot Cajun Beef Pasta
Using the one-pot method of cooking pasta where uncooked pasta is cooked in the pasta sauce does not work for all recipes. But it works extremely well for some – like this one!
The bonus, other than less washing up, is that the pasta absorbs the flavour of the sauce. Extra yum factor!
Shred the carrot and zucchini using a standard box grater. I like to grate them so the strands are shorter rather than longer (they hide better!). I don’t peel the carrot (free nutrition).
Cook – Use a large heavy based pot with a lid. I use a 24cm / 9.45″ cast iron pot which gets very full!
Heat the oil over high heat, and cook the onion and garlic first to flavour the oil. Then cook the beef, breaking it up as you go, until it changes from red to brown.
Vegetables and spices – Next, cook the carrot and zucchini. They will release water at first, but then the water will evaporate. After 2 minutes when they are partially cooked, add the capsicum and cook for another 2 minutes until the carrot and zucchinis wilted.
Then add the tomato paste and all the Cajun spices. Cook for another 1 minute to take the sour raw edge off the tomato paste and get the spices all through the vegetables and beef.
Sauce and pasta – Add the canned tomato, water (I use the water to swill out the tomato cans), chicken stock and beans. Give it a good stir and bring it up to the simmer before adding the pasta.
Cook 15 minutes – Once the liquid comes back up to the simmer, cover with the lid and then lower the heat to medium. We want the liquid simmering, but not bubbling madly (too strong, base will catch) nor still which means it isn’t hot enough (the pasta will just be sitting there bloating in hot liquid rather than cooking).
Stir every few minutes to ensure the base doesn’t catch. As it cooks, the liquid will get absorbed by the pasta.
The pasta is ready when it’s just about cooked (ie centre is still a bit firmer than you want). It will be rather watery still which is what we want. The pasta will finish cooking and the excess liquid will be absorbed in the next step! **Stop here if making ahead, see box below for tips.**
Cheese it! Working quickly (so we don’t lose heat), give the pasta one big stir, smooth the surface, then sprinkle the surface with cheese.
3 minutes – Cover with the lid and turn the stove off. Leave the pot on the stove for 3 minutes to let the residual heat melt the cheese. Then lift the lid and be greeted with THIS DELERIOUSLY DELICIOUS SIGHT! ⬇️⬇️⬇️
Serve immediately, while the pasta is at its peak, hot and oozy. Because as with all pastas, the longer this sits around, the less saucy it becomes as the pasta will continue to absorb liquid.
Though truthfully, it doesn’t bother me even when it’s not as saucy as freshly made. I was happily warming up leftovers and eating this for breakfast four days later, then I made another couple of batches “just to check it one more time” and froze them to donate through RecipeTin Meals (my food bank).
I think this is One Pot Cajun Beef Pasta is another recipe ideal to add to our RTM rotation – nutritious, economical, easy to scale up, keeps well and damn tasty! – Nagi x
PS The token green onion sprinkle is not at all mandatory, just my attempt to add a splash of green to the molten blanket of yellow.
PPS For those interested, I did a post on the Top 10 meals we make at RTM -> Top 10 recipes we make at RecipeTin Meals. It’s a useful list for recipes that are ideal for making ahead, freezing, wholesome, economical and the sort of food everybody loves. We tend to stay away from things like bold-flavoured spicy Vindaloo curry at RTM! 🙂
One-pot Cajun Beef Pasta FAQ
If making the whole dish ahead to reheat another day, stop when the pasta is cooked but don’t put the cheese on. Take it off the stove and let it cool with the lid off. You could even transfer into an ovenproof dish at this stage. Sprinkle with cheese then fridge or freeze!
Just be mindful if you freeze the whole dish, it will be a formidable block so allow sufficient time to thaw (I’d allow 2 days in the fridge or give it a good head start on the counter then thaw overnight).
I’m afraid I haven’t tried. As the absorption rate of GF pasta is different, the liquid-to-pasta ratio would require adjustment. If you scan the comments, someone may have tried it and shared their tips. I find this to be the case with most recipes. My readers are so nice and helpful! 🙂
Just a very background hint of warmth from the cayenne pepper in the homemade Cajun Spice Mix. But you can easily omit it, it won’t compromise the flavour. 🙂
Nope. In fact, Cajuns prefer rice over pasta! But using Cajun spices in a pasta dish is a “thing” in the States, and it’s a tasty way to add flavour into a pasta dish. So I’m totally on board!
Not too many, as I have a handful of tomato based one-pot pasta recipes on my website (like Cheeseburger Casserole – don’t let that name put you off, it is one of my favourites! Chilli Mac, One Pot Vegetable Pasta, Creamy Tomato Beef Pasta, to name a few.)
The main variable here was the sheer volume of vegetables in the dish, which was intentional. I had to dial up flavour (because it’s dispersed throughout so much more “stuff”). In the first iteration I had WAY too much vegetables in it which overwhelmed the beef, so it was like eating a vegetable pasta with a tiny amount of beef! Whereas I wanted a beefy pasta and to hide as much vegetables as I could get away with.
Then it was just about getting the liquid-to-pasta ratio right, and the cook time. There is a general rule of thumb, but I find that with every one-pot pasta recipe it differs slightly, depending on sauce thickness.
Watch how to make it
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One Pot Cajun Beef Pasta with lots-of-veg
Ingredients
One-pot pasta:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves , finely minced
- 1 onion , chopped
- 500g/ 1 lb beef mince (ground beef) (Note 1)
- 1 carrot , medium, shredded using box grater (I keep skin on)
- 1 zucchini , medium, shredded using box grater (Note 2)
- 1 red capsicum (bell pepper), chopped (Note 2)
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 800g/ 28 oz canned crushed tomato
- 400g/ 14 oz kidney beans , drained (or other beans of choice, can omit)
- 2 cups chicken stock/broth , low sodium (sub beef stock)
- 2 cups water (just regular tap water!)
- 350g / 12 oz (3 cups) elbow pasta (macaroni) , spirals, penne, ziti, small shells, rigatoni or similar size, uncooked (Note 3)
- 1 1/2 cups (tightly packed) colby cheese or other melting cheese of choice, preferably freshly shredded (melts better)
- 1 green onion stem , finely sliced (optional garnish)
Cajun spices:
- 1 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1 1/2 tbsp paprika (sweet/regular, not smoked or spicy)
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper , optional (faintly spicy)
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 1/4 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large heavy based pot with a lid over high heat.
- Cook vegetables – Cook the onion and garlic for 2 minutes. Add the beef and cook, breaking it up as you go, until you no longer see red meat. Add the carrot and zucchini, cook for 2 minutes until the water they release mostly evaporates. Add the capsicum and cook for 2 minutes.
- Spices – Add the tomato paste and Cajun Spices. Cook for 1 minute.
- Pasta sauce – Add the canned tomato, water (I swill the cans clean), stock and beans. Mix and bring to a simmer.
- Add the pasta, stir, let it come back up to the simmer. Put the lid on and lower the heat slightly to medium so the liquid is simmering (not bubbling madly).
- Cook for 15 minutes, stirring every few minutes so the base doesn't catch. The pasta should be a bit firmer than you want in the middle, and still a bit soupy which is good! Liquid gets absorbed in the next step.
- Melt cheese – Give it a stir, smooth the surface, sprinkle with cheese. Put the lid on then turn the stove off (leave the pot on the stove). Leave for 3 minutes so the residual heat melts the cheese and the pasta finishes cooking.
- Serve – Remove from the stove, sprinkle with green onion if desired, then serve immediately while saucy and the cheese is gooey!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
My new cookbook TONIGHT hits shelves around the world next month! 15 October in Australia, 17 October in the UK and 29 October in the US. I CAN’T WAIT!!
Dozer features prominently in this one. I insisted. No Dozer, no cookbook! He’s in every single Chapter opener. Here’s one of my favourites – no setting up required, 100% Dozer/Nagi situation!
And some photos I found on my camera from the shoot day:
Actually, I haven’t been looking at these photos from the early cookbook shoot days because it makes me a little sad. It was just before he was diagnosed with his condition and had his surgery, and all I can think is how I dragged him along to all those shoot days and he made such an effort to co-operate like the good boy he is. But he must’ve been suffering so terribly, unable to breathe properly. 😭
I remember on the last day of shooting, he struggled so much to walk just 50 meters from the building to the car at the end of the day. Breaks my heart knowing I pushed him too hard, not knowing he was not well. 💔
Anyway! He’s so much better now, and I’m so grateful.
And the best reward for all that hard work I put into the cookbook? That he is here with me to celebrate the launch next month.
I have the best dog in the world. – Nagi x
Our new cookbook TONIGHT is now available for pre-order so you can secure a copy and get it straight away when it releases in October! It’s not all Dozer. There’s a recipe or two in there as well. 😉
I made this exactly as it was and it was a hit all round! Thank you
This recipe is really good!!
Very tasty! I suggest a couple of changes (at least for Americans).
If you buy a standard package of ground beef (80/20 or 75/25), cook the beef first and drain the fat. This may not be necessary with premium cuts (no more than 15% fat). There are some beef drippings that can be recovered by quickly freezing the drained grease for about 30 minutes, then discarding the separated layer of fat. You can then set the beef aside until the veggies are partially cooked – or just add the veggies on top.
Always peel carrots in America unless they’re organic.
It’s fine to grate the vegetables as directed, but I love the taste and texture from dicing them in small chunks. It’s quicker to dice than grate, although the cook time might be slightly longer. I added a second carrot and 1.5 large celery stalks. Like a stew or soup, you can add almost any veggie you have on hand. I might add mushrooms next time.
I hadn’t used Colby cheese for cooking in years; it was great here. Six ounces of freshly grated cheese seems to provide about 1.5 packed cups; that should be clarified in the recipe.
I had rotini pasta on hand (a narrow spiral pasta) – it worked well with this dish. I was concerned that 12oz might not be enough for these ingredients, but it was plenty. Do not use 16oz without increasing other ingredients proportionally.
I didn’t add salt because there’s plenty in the ingredients (at least in America). Let diners add salt as needed.
Will definitely make again!
Cheesy, saucy and great depth of flavour! I used zucchini, carrot and celery. I couldn’t imagine it would have a Cajun flavour and was expecting it to taste like an Italian pasta but as always, Nagi knows the right mix and ratios of ingredients and it didn’t taste Italian at all.
Thank you once again for a recipe that has all the elements of a tasty, satisfying and filling meal. All the practical information including substitutes that work along with Dozer pictures make RecipeTin Eats my most visited site after email. When I’m cooking, I say to my husband “It’s a Nagi” and he knows it will be awesome because it always is, even with the occasional “user error”.
Delicious thanks Nagi (as usual). Followed the recipe and managed the 8 serves as you had suggested. Love having super tasty meals on hand in the freezer! Especially decadent when camping and can reheat something so yummy!!!
NAGI – I wish I could give you a sky full of stars instead of this 5 star rating. You have no idea how much your recipes have changed my life . Made this tonight and my boys (who are fussy) wolfed it down . Thank you for making my life SO MUCH easier
Outstanding! There was a lot of prep work, but when putting the dish together it was easy. I did not put the zucchini as Nagi said it disappears so didn’t want to go to the trouble of shredding it, I put two handfuls of spinach at the end. Yummy.
Thanks for sharing. I volunteer at our local senior center where we prepare and serve 1500 meals per day for home bound, dine-in and to go. Love it. Thanks for what you do!
I made this tonight. I made a few mistakes. First was I used Slap Ya Mama! I feel I put too much in! And I must of been in lala land as I cooked my pasta before putting it in. It was ok but very spicy! Haha
I made this tonight using black bear instead of ground beef. Delicious!!
Made this tonight, it was so good!
So I decided to double this recipe not thinking about the cooking equipment I had, decided to put it in my Philips all in one pressure cooker and use the pressure rice setting (14mins) didn’t alter the recipe at all. Didn’t quite turn out as fluffy as the original recipe looks had a slight more risotto’esque texture but still extremely tasty! Will 100% make this again and likely use the pressure cooker purely out of convenience 🙏🏼💗
Hi Nagi, I will be using the Slap Ya Momma Cajun seasoning. How much would you suggest that I use? We love your recipes and are excited to try this.
Loved this, looking for recipes for my son who wants to bulk up! I added a couple of tablespoons of light sour cream too.
Another brilliant recipe. This is fabulous.
My family and I love this recipe. BUT my kids hate beans, so I leave them out. I am also always trying to add greens, so I add a 250g bag of frozen chopped spinach at the beginning. A great way to add even more vege and up the iron.
Hi! Did you adjust anything else (like water) when you omitted the beans? I plan to make this but without beans.
A nachos, chilli con carne pasta bake. Great comfort food also perfect for camping.
Maybe camping food could be a new category
Easy and delicious
First time made using cashew nuts and really can’t taste the difference. Delicious and will make again
Wow…Another fantastic 5 star dish. There is only the 2 of us so we have this for tomorrow also. It turned out better than we thought. You amaze every dish.
Think I messed up 🙁 I used diced rather than crushed tomatoes… I’m sure it will taste as good but it looks less appealing (to teenagers). Just a warning to others really… crushed not diced!